Democratic Global Internet Regulation? Governance Networks,International Law and the Shadow of Hegemony

Abstract: The field of global Internet Regulation serves as a prime example for the rise of global ‘a‐centric’ and ‘self regulatory’ governance structures. The most prominent private organisation in this field is the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN was founded as a private non‐profit organisation comprising private and public actors that run the Internet domain name system, a crucial part of the Internet technical infrastructure. It claims to be a participatory network that enables deliberation among the ‘relevant’ commercial and non‐profit actors in the Internet field. This normative aspiration of a legitimate sectoral polity beyond governmental and intergovernmental policymaking can also be isolated as the driving force behind a certain strand within the literature on global governance. The paper undertakes a critical analysis of this claim within the ICANN context.